Looking for a Side-Kick (Open to Heroes)

It was a peaceful, quiet day in Jump City, and many people were spending it out at the gallaria. There was nothing that could make this day any better.

...But there was something that could make it worse. A lot worse.



Lobo, the intergalactic bounty hunter, flew up to the doors of the galleria on his flying motorcycle. He looked around for a parking space, but they were all full. Picking up a car with one deathly pale white hand, Lobo sent it flying out into the street, where it exploded on impact.

"There we go. It's nice to find a parking spot this close to the doors. I didn't even need a handicap sign."

The heavily muscled alien walked into the building, lighting up a cigar as he approached.

The people of Jump City had grown very accustomed to strange individuals showing up out of nowhere, but they were still scared of this man. He seemed to radiate danger, along with the smell of oil and body odor. They kept their distance.

"All right then," Lobo said in his gravelly voice as he reached a busy part of the mall. "Time to make a disturbance." Reaching for a gun, Lobo aimed it at the ceiling and fired off an energy ball. "Hey kids. My name's Lobo, and I'm going to cause all sorts of pain and death." He fired another shot into a store window to make a stronger point. "So you better call the Teen Titans. They might be able to help you."

Lobo grinned as the crowd began to panic and chaos filled the mall. He continued shooting at random, occasionally hitting a civilian. This was all to make a scene. He wanted to get the attention of the Teen Titans. Then he would see if any of them could get his attention. All the superheroes (and even some villains) had sidekicks now. Lobo didn't want to look behind in the times, so he decided to pick up a sidekick here in Jump City.

"Come on Titans, where are you?"

"Wow, that was fast," said the alien in his deep, gravelly voice. "Thanks for the warm welcome, by the way. I've been on this dirt-ball before, but nobody's ever been this kind to me."

Lobo put his energy gun back in its holster. He didn't want to kill the kid if he was any good. JaK Sage, huh? It was a cool enough sounding name, Lobo thought. He mouthed the name to himself a few times. "JaK Sage. JaK Sage. Yeah...I like it."

The kid had attitude, as well. That was good. Lobo didn't want a boring pansy to be his side-kick.

"Your arrows pierce me through the heart, Jacky. The Main Man is not just some nobody trying to break in here for a wad of cash. You better have had your Wheeties this morning, because you're about to get the beating of your life."

Lobo cracked his knuckles, then his neck with sickening volume. He saw JaK offer him a cigarette. He pulled his own cigar out from between his teeth. "Oh, no that's fine, Jacky. I've got my own. Although...it would be a shame for a fine cigar like this to get lost in a fight." Lobo ate the cigar in 3 bites and swallowed it.

What had happened? Lobo thought that he saw JaK's arm turn into metal for a brief second before getting punched across the room.

JaK's punch sent him through a wall. He must not have had his footing right, Lobo thought, angry. He didn't want to look sloppy.

As the debris settled, Lobo walked out of the hole in the wall, holding his chin. Aside from a slight irritation, he didn't seem to be damaged at all. "Not bad, but I've eaten things tougher than you for breakfast. So what's your deal? You can turn your arms into metal? That's cool."

Lobo approached the Titan and aimed a punch for his face. The power of the punch would kill most things on this planet. Also, he followed up the punch with a low kick, in case JaK tried to duck under the punch. Although the kick wasn't as strong, it would still break human bones.

The little runt was dodging his attacks. Oh well. "You can't dodge them all, Jacky. I'm gonna get you. The Main Man hasn't lost a fight yet. Or have I? Doesn't matter." JaK kicked him in the stomach, and Lobo took the full force of the attack. He took half a step back and recovered, again unharmed. Aiming a punch for JaK's torso, Lobo threw his fist at the Titan. Wheter or not it hit JaK, it would leave a crater in the floor at least a foot in diameter.

The mall shook from the impact and a few display racks started falling over. The building was sustaining serious structural damage.

(Mind if I join?)

Another day, another set of clothes ruined by the dirt of Steel City. Though she rarely ventured out of the house anymore, Jump City seemed like a pretty good place to buy her new attire; the Galleria holding a scattering of designer shops that Alyss had grown fond of.
After loading the overtly expensive clothes into the back of her car, the girl sighed, brushing off the hemline of her new suit. Always the frivolous girl was she - probably Fear's fault, or at least that was who she blamed.
Her thought train was shattered in a blink by the sounds of metal crunching and people screaming from below the multi-storey car park. The agent dashed to the side of the balcony, peering over and seeing what looked like a hulking mass of alabaster fighting a far smaller boy outside the entrance to the Mall.
"Oh bloody hell," she groaned. There was never peace anymore - especially when it involved supers. Bloody bloody supers.
But of course, her gut reaction was to protect and serve, as she had been so well trained to do - and within a moment her brand new jacket was cast aside and her smart heels replaced with her trusty pair of dark toned Vans from the back of the SUV. Alyss headed for the stairwell, not stopping to change the rest of her outfit, though potentially fighting in a button up white-shirt and high-waisted skirt would never be her first choice for battle armour. The two guns sat tightly in their holster gave her comfort, as well as the newly invigorated excitement resounding from Fear.

She arrived in the main entrance hall, watching from the staircase as the walls around the fighters began to crumble. May as well take a defensive stance, without the help of her shadows, before attacking. Any fight avoided was a plus at the moment - she didn't want to get blood on the crisp cleanness of her new clothes, by God! Raising one of her Glocks into the air, she fired a shot towards the ceiling, breaking through the glass that encased the Galleria and sending a storm of fragments raining down upon Lobo and Jak.

"Woah, woah, woah! What the hell is going on here?" she yelled, her thick Irish accent resonating off the Galleria walls. She began heading down the steps, gun still held tightly in her right hand. There was something about the huge Main Man that screamed danger towards Alyss, causing her to actuate her shadow powers and keep Fear close to hand - her ferocious sister may be needed but if her use could be averted, Alyss would feel hell of a lot safer. "I don't want to repeat myself. To be frank, I'd rather not have my day disturbed by another squalid little fight."

As her irises began to darken and the swell of energy rose within her, she stayed prepared for the first swing but still waited patiently - always on the defence, unless hunting of course. Never the first to attack; Alyss managed to control Fear's urges to send a shadow around the necks of both the men with promise of a fight later on the Streets of Steel, if this could be diffused easily.
"So I'll ask again. What the hell is going on here?"

Little Jacky was able to dodge the punch and spun around Lobo's arm, hitting him three times. Each hit was a minor irritation for Lobo. He was about to attack the kid again when a shower of glass fell on him, the shards bouncing and shattering on his skin.

A little girl with guns was standing to Lobo's side asking what was going on. She also said that she didn't want to fight. Lobo's eyes opened wide at the site of the girl. She looked pretty good, and who was he to ignore a pretty lady?

"What does it look like, Doll? I'm crashing the place. Nice outfit by the way, mind if I take it?"

Lobo ignored Jak and started walking towards the girl. He grabbed a flower from a display on the way and held it out to her. "Here, this is for you."

Alyss's eye twitched angrily at the seemingly sarcastic offering of the flower. Who on Earth was this man and what right did he have to mock her?! The agent reigned in her boiling blood and relieved the gnashing jaws of Fear from taking over her mind and forced a smile towards the man, clutching the flower in her thin little fingers. As she received the physical insult, her fingers skimmed his giant hands - immediately sending her mind reeling with his identity. Alien. Bounty Hunter. Murderer. As his thoughts filled her head, the irises around her pupils flickered from blue to black insinuating Fear's arrival. Her sister fought to keep the more powerful half under control and forced her backwards with the promise of future kills.

"Thank you, you are too kind Mr...Lobo? Now, I understand you must have travelled very far to get to Jump City, after all you are a very long way from home," she began, gritting her teeth under the false smile. "But I think it'd be best if you left now. Before any more citizens are physically damaged just by looking at you."

The girl crumpled the flower under her fingers and let it drop to the floor; bounty hunter a hundred times the size of her or not - this guy was pushing all the right buttons to get his legs sliced off.

Lobo laughed at the girl's last line. 'Physically hurt just by looking at him.' That was good. He was going to have to use that sometime.

Then a giant, metal hand grabbed Lobo's head as another hand punched him repeatedly in the back. These punches hurt Lobo a little, and for a few seconds he moaned into the giant metal hand that covered his mouth.

Reaching up, Lobo grabbed the metal hand that covered his face. He grabbed it around the wrist, and with one swift jerking motion, he ripped the hand to the right, breaking it off of the metal arm it was attatched to.

Keeping the metal hand in his own hands, Lobo turned around to face JaK and tried to punch the Titan with his own fist.

As the fight unfolded before her eyes, Alyss realised that this gargantuan fiend was not going anywhere without force. Though JaK mistook her demure image for a civilian, he didn't deserve to have his arms ripped off - protect and serve. She never really thought about the motto she said everyday - her personal mantra - protect who? Serve who? It seemed to be Fear she was obeying and keeping secret most of the time nowadays.

Nevertheless, the agent shot towards the giant to grab his attention. "Hey, Lobo," she shouted, throwing her gun to the floor. "I think it's time to leave."

The woman lurched backwards into the shadows behind her and disappeared upon contactt. She began flitting between the different shades of the Galleria, attempting to gain the best angle of attack. Stopping in the shadow of a piece of rubble that was situated behind Lobo, emerging to strike. Taking a deep breath, Alyss sprinted forwards and leapt upon the leviathan's back, wrapping her fist within his hair and pulling backwards roughly. With her powers in full swing, a thick dark matter began to form around Alyss's other hand, lengthening her fingers into thick razor-edged talons. Still without a sound and with total focus, the agent forced her hand into the alabaster skin upon Lobo's neck. She quickly retracted the claws, raking a fistful of flesh with her and splattering her shirt with the alien's viscous blood.

Taking another leap backwards, she landed safely upon the cracked marble of the entrance hall, drawing her gun immediately in case of attack. Her clawed hand still dripped blood upon the floor beside her - Fear smiled inwardly, this was exciting for the shadowmancers other half.
"I want to pla- no, quiet." The two sides began to argue; Fear wanted to fight, wanted to take down this new target but Alyss still had her reservations, kept her wits about her. "I want you to leave. Now. Before anything else gets destroyed."